Despite the alleged diversion of oil subsidy payments by some petroleum marketers, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday disclosed that the agency has been able to reduce subsidy payment due to marketers from N2.09 trillion in 2011, to N1 trillion in 2012.
Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Mr. Reginald Stanley, stated this at an interactive session with the media on Monday.
The PPPRA boss said that with the current margin, the country has saved about N1.9trillion in payment of subsidy to marketers in 2012. “Under our administration, we have been able to reduce the amount paid on subsidies to marketers in 2012 as against N2.09 trillion paid in 2011.
This is a savings of about N 1.9 trillion on subsidies which is a welcome development in the system,” he declared. The PPPRA boss said that the agency was able to save the country the lump sum due to the reduction in the number of operations in the subsidy scheme. According to him, a total of 128 marketers who participated in the scheme in 2011 had been pruned to 38.
Stanley said that with the reform initiative in place, the industry also recorded a drastic reduction in supply volume from December 2011 to October 2012.
He said that the average daily provision of petrol supply across the country which was 60.259 million litre per day in 2011 had been reduced to 40 million litre per day, representing about 36.41 per cent drop. Stanley said that marketers who are indicted by the probe panel investigating the mismanagement of fuel subsidy regime would no longer be paid same until they are absolved of the allegations by the panel.
He said his administration would also ensure stability in the supply and distribution chain process of petroleum products across the country by ensuring product availability.
He equally spoke on the nation’s refineries, saying that they are producing far below the required capacity that is not enough to meet local consumption, hence the huge dependence of importation of petroleum product. He also said it is not true that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is the sole importer of fuel into the country.
“The NNPC has seized to be the sole importer of fuel into Nigeria after January 1, 2006 when the Petroleum Support Fund was introduced by the Federal government. Major and independent oil marketers import more products than NNPC currently,” he added.
He also spoke on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly, arguing that the roles of regulators or regulatory institutions in the oil and gas sector should be held sacrosanct.
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